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Monthly Archives: September 2015

Looking for ways to make your advertising budget work? Think about running a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaign. These campaigns will show up in search engine search results when your potential customers search for keywords associated with your business.

You only pay for clicks on your ad and you can easily track how well your campaign is doing in attracting new customers to your company’s website. Then you can adjust your campaign to maximize your return on investment (ROI). Here are 7 tips to set up and optimize your PPC campaign.

1. Choose Your Keywords

Create a list of 20-50 keywords that relate to your company. From this list, use these keywords in your static (webpage pages that don’t change) and dynamic (e.g. blogs, videos, etc.) content so you will rank higher when prospective customers search for those terms. You do have to remember that you’re competing against other companies in your industry for these keywords so avoid generic terms and invest in terms and phrases that will differentiate yourself. You can use free keyword tools from Google to help with this as well.

2. Set Your Monthly Budget

Decide on the maximum amount you will pay each month for click-throughs to your website. Once that amount is reached, your ad will stop appearing. For example, if you pay $0.50 per word and select a budget of $500, your ad will run for 1,000 click-throughs.

3. Place A Bid

When you bid through an auction on keywords, remember that pricing is driven by supply and demand. Popular keywords cost more and that’s why you need to focus on what differentiates you from your competitors when selecting your words.

4. Align Your Landing Page With Your PPC Ads

To increase your quality score (the score Google gives your ads) and to keep the user experience consistent. Your goal is to turn website visitors into customers, so make sure your site is aligned with your PPC ad creative. The landing page should have the same offer as your ad and be clear, compelling and differentiated from your competitors.

5. Target Your Audience

You can target your ads to potential customers in specific geographic locations. This will help you geo-target your ads around your service locations and customize your creative. Local campaigns perform best.

6. Analyze Your Results

Major search engines provide analytics and reports that tell you how well your ads are working and how you could improve your campaign(s). Monitor how many clicks you have earned as well as data about your visitors, including their geographic location. Above all, keep a close eye on your conversion rate. A conversion is a click-through that results in an action such as a sale or a request for information. Tracking your conversion rate allows you to determine your return on investment (ROI).

7. Learn & Adjust

As you track your results, try using different keyword combinations, starting new campaigns, changing creative, adjusting ad copy or targeting different locations, to see what works best.

It’s no longer enough for companies to simply have a website. Your website should have a strategy and objective. It should provide value and be easy to find. If no one can find you, you’re going to have a problem.

Think about what words and search terms your customers will use to search and find your customers. Do research and even ask your customers.

2. Draft 20-50 Keywords

From this list, use these keywords in your static (webpage pages that don’t change) and dynamic (e.g. blogs, videos, etc.) content so you will rank higher when prospective customers search for those terms. You do have to remember that you’re competing against other companies in your industry for these keywords so avoid generic terms and invest in terms and phrases that will differentiate yourself. You can use free keyword tools from Google to help with this as well.

You should also integrate a search engine marketing (SEM) Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaign. Create ads that resonate with your defined keyword list and your ads will appear above or beside the free search results including those terms. You will then pay the search engine company each time your link is clicked. Competition is stiff for keywords so if you don’t have a big budget, you will have to focus on your niche.

3. Include Keywords In Your Website

As mentioned above, start using your keywords in your website content and in your URL, webpage titles, subheaders, descriptions and metatags. Then, use the words in the text on each of the pages, but don’t overuse. You website copy should provide value, not irritate. The priority should be to make the content clear and easy to read. As Google webmaster guidelines state: “Make pages primarily for users, not for search engines.”

4. Work To Attract Linkbacks

The more sites that carry links to your site the higher you will rank on searches. Ask website owners of related sites to link their site to your site. You can also offer to carry a link to theirs in exchange for a link to yours. A good example of this is to guest author blogs. Focus on the quality of the links. The more popular the website, the more impactful they will be on your website SEO.

5. Publish Lots Of High Quality Content

The more content on your website, the more traffic you will attract from search engines. Publish compelling content—articles, videos and photos—and update it frequently.

6. Be Social

Social media is a great tool to have in your SEO strategy. Create company pages and link back to your website. Be active in online communities in your industry. Share content on Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn or Twitter that brings visitors to your site.

7. Be Patient

Benchmark your site performance and monitor the results, but don’t expect fast results. It will take months to make significant improvements in your search engine rankings.

8. Measure Results & Work For Page One

Use free services like Google Analytics, Google Webmaster Tools and Moz to track the statistics on the behaviour of your visitors—how they found your site (search engine, referring website, etc.), their geographical location and how long they stayed on each page. This data can help you to improve your online strategy. You need to rank on page 1, no one really looks past it now.